Happily In Betweens
by VickyVicarious
Summary: A collection of short gen or non-CS focused ficlets written for Tumblr prompts. 1,500 words or less.
1. Gravity

Like the summary says, this is a collection of non-CS focused fics (under 1,500 words). I feel it's important to note here that Captain Swan will still be featured, so if you aren't a fan of them please be aware of that. This collection will contain all my short fics that are primarily **gen**, a **non-CS pairing**, or fics where **CS and another pairing are equally featured**.

Don't worry, I'll list whatever pairings/characters are in each ficlet at the head of each chapter so you can avoid whatever you dislike.

To start, I have an extremely goofy crack!pairing drabble! (No, not everything will be this ridiculous, I swear.)

**Pairing: **Captain Floor

**Prompt: **Rosenlight on Tumblr sent me an ask with the first four sentences (bold). I continued from there.

* * *

**There he was again. The floor hugged him tightly in its muddy embrace, whispered with the cracking of leaves that he'll be okay. Hook closed his eyes and gritted his teeth, trying to resist its charm, but he was too weak. He sighed, resting at last.**

If there was one thing Hook had always been able to count on throughout his long life, it was Floor. Always there for him, silently supporting him, firm beneath his feet. Sometimes, he'd just - lay down, just close his eyes and savor the constant love, the strength, the belief that although he would always stand up, so too would he lay down again. Floor was patient, it would always wait for him, would always welcome him.

Even in the midst of a fight, if he were knocked down the pain was soothed by an edge of familiarity, of trust and momentary relief. It didn't matter whether it was the crackling leaves of the Enchanted Forest, the muddy sod of Neverland, the wood of his own ship, rocks, or even tiles - no matter what realm he traveled to, no matter what battle he fought, Hook could always recognize his Floor. He sought its solace for as long as he dared, silently promising to return - and could feel its belief in him, that same solid surety, the trust that he would survive, and they would be reunited once more. Floor was patient, constant… just these swift, stolen moments in the midst of battle were still enough to bring Hook a level of peace, confidence, and renewed energy as he stood up yet again.

_Don't worry_, Floor seemed to whisper, _gravity will bring us together again. True Love always finds a way._


	2. Bounty

**Relationships: **Captain Hood (friendship), Outlaw Queen hints, minor Snowing.

**Prompt: **Robin Hook Snow Thief Contest

* * *

"All I'm saying, mate, is that my name is still widely known and feared three _hundred_ years later."

"The name born of your failure," Robin scoffed, though the twinkle in his eyes belied any venom the words might hold. "I've never been jailed, you know."

"What, the Nottingham _Sheriff_ never caught you? Ah, truly a master thief, then." Hook arched a challenging brow, grinning viciously as he tore a bite free of the hunk of bread speared on his hook. "Did I mention when I climbed the beanstalk and stole from a giant? Stole the giant too, 's a matter of fact."

Robin sat up slowly, smirking. "With the help of an evil witch, yes, I've heard. I don't suppose _you've_ heard the price on my head?"

Hook leaned forward as well, eyes narrowing. "I'd wager tonight's watch mine's double."

"I accept!" Robin laughed, holding out his hand. Hook reached forward to shake it–

"I'll bet mine's _triple_."

Both men blinked, and looked up. Queen Snow stood with her hands on her hips, grinning softly. When the men stared at her in clear confusion, she snickered. "What, you've never heard about when I was a bandit? Traveling the land, stealing from the Evil Queen…"

"It's how we met," David added fondly, wandering by with an armload of firewood. "She robbed my carriage, stole my horse, and knocked me out with a rock."

There was a stunned pause. David continued on his way. Snow's smile grew a little smug.

"Even so," Hook said, "three hundred years of piracy –"

"The Merry Men and I have robbed _a lot_ of rich to give to the poor –"

"Trust me," Regina cut in, her familiar sardonic tone edged with unexpected lightness; Robin snapped to attention. She exchanged an amused glance with Snow. "Her bounty was higher than both of yours together. I set it myself, I'd know."

"Since I won the wager," Snow said sweetly, "I think it's only fair that you _both_ take tonight's watch."

Hook scowled. "Wait a tick –"

"If we must," Robin said absently, before jumping to his feet and following closely after the once-Evil Queen as she exited the clearing. "Out of curiosity, madam, exactly what price _did_ you set?"

"Oi, I didn't agree to – Hood!" Hook snapped after him, but the thief was long gone. Hook slumped on his log, grumpily taking another bite of his bread.

Snow patted him on the shoulder consolingly, grinning all the while.


	3. True Love's Kiss

**Relationships: **Captain Floor (OTP foreverrrrr hahaha), Captain Swan

**Prompt: **Omg please wrrite a captain floor fic of how when Emma kicked Hook at the end of 3.11 and he hit the floor face down and the curse on Emma was broken.

* * *

"Look, I know you can't remember me but," he took a deep breath, shuffling forward a little, "I can make you."

And then he was _kissing her_, and for a moment she was kissing back, couldn't help but kiss back, something about him just felt so - so - fucking _insane _what the hell was he thinking (what was _she_ thinking) and Emma kneed him hard, shoving him back into the hallway.

He stumbled back, clutching himself, and tried to lean against the opposite wall. But Emma hit _hard_, and he rebounded forward, attempting to catch his balance but ultimately failing. He landed flat on his face.

She was already yelling when it happened: "What the hell was th-"

The air… _rippled_.

Something pulsed outwards, a ring of near-invisible light expanding rapidly from the place where the crazy man's mouth was smushed against the carpet. Lights flickered as it passed; behind Emma the radio jolted on again, loud static filling the air. But the biggest effect was on Emma herself: she could _feel_ the light passing through her; it was impossibly warm and soft and _right_ somehow, it knocked her breath away, woke something deep inside of her, she could feel her skin tingling, blood fizzing in her veins as sudden energy rushed through her. No - not just energy. _Magic_. Emma's magic was awake again and _so was she_, she remembered suddenly, everything slotting into place, everything -

"_Hook?_" she gasped.

He jerked his head up, staring at her. "Emma," he breathed joyfully. "It worked."

Still blinking in shock (what the hell was he doing here? oh god, her entire life with Henry was a lie, wait, _shit_, he'd said her family was in trouble, what the hell was going on, how had he - _had he tried _-) Emma slowly crouched to meet Hook's eyes.

"You… you tried True Love's kiss," she said numbly.

"It _worked_," he whispered again, a huge grin overtaking his face. Emma shivered, terrified at the mere thought, but - but an answering smile was growing on her own lips, she couldn't help it. She couldn't believe he'd done it, she wanted to hug him, to cling to him and sob, thank him forever for _finding her_, god, it'd been a year. Coming back here was supposed to be impossible, she didn't have a clue how he'd managed it, but he'd done it somehow, he'd _come back_ for her, brought _her_ back; everything felt _real_ in a way that it hadn't been for the past year, everything was crystal-clear suddenly and she wanted to kiss him again, kiss him forever, True Love's kiss, he loved her and _she loved him_, there was no hiding anymore, this was True -

Wait a minute.

"No," Emma muttered, hand coming up to press against her lips. She stared at Hook, laid out flat on the floor before her. "No, it didn't. It didn't work."

He shoved himself up a little further, with a sharp gasp. "You don't -"

"No, I remember," Emma said instantly, and Hook relaxed back onto the floor in relief. "I… remember everything, but. I didn't remember right _away_. That's not how True Love's kiss works, it happens while you're still kissing, not - I mean," she scoffed a little, "the light burst out when you kissed _the floor_, not me, so I don't know what that was, but it couldn't have been…"

Emma trailed off, staring. Hook's eyes had gone wide, and his head slowly angled to stare straight down at the brown carpet beneath him. His mouth dropped open a little, Emma heard him take a short, sharp breath, and - his fingers _stroked_ across the carpet, almost… _lovingly_…

"True Love's… kiss," Emma finished slowly, blinking repeatedly and licking her lips as she tried to think of what to… he was still _gazing_ at the ground, a small amazed smile on his lips now and - she'd seen that smile before. Mere minutes ago, in fact, that was how he'd looked at _her_ when Emma had opened the door and he'd seen her for the first time in a year and he'd said her name with so much awe -

"_Floor_," Hook breathed, so quietly she almost didn't hear it, and it was the _exact same tone_. A sharp spike of jealousy had Emma clearing her throat loudly - his head snapped up instantly, and she wanted to laugh a second later, because this was ridiculous, was she really jealous over the _floor? _What was she thinking, was the ugly brown _carpet _Hook's True Love? Yeah, because _that_ made so much more sense than the real world interfering with the magic somehow, delaying it a few seconds.

Except - except - Hook was _blushing_, red slowly rising up his cheeks as he swallowed hard, eyes flickering between Emma's face and the floor he was still just _lying_ on, and his fingers were still doing that soft little petting thing, like he wasn't even thinking of it, like he couldn't even help it, like -

Keeping a foot stretched back to hold the door open behind her, Emma scrambled forward, grabbing Hook's hand and opposite wrist and _yanking _him up off the ground. He came, but slowly, as if he was dazed or even _reluctant_, and Emma positively _snarled_, pulling harder: "Stand UP."

Once he was on his feet she hugged him tightly; felt his arms come around her too after a moment, tight and loving and she wanted to just close her eyes and sink into him, breathe him in and never let go because he was _here_, he was _hers_, he'd come for her and saved her, brought her memories back with -

She glared at the floor, and invited Hook inside to sit on the couch while he explained what the hell was going on. She didn't care if he put his feet on the coffee-table, by the way, she mentioned casually, and stomped a little harder than necessary as she led the way inside.


	4. Toaster

**Relationships: **Captain Hood, Captain Swan, Outlaw Queen

**Prompt: **I combined two prompts for this. The first was _"It's a bagel"_, and the second was _Regina and Emma watch as Hook and Robin get introduced to technology._

* * *

"And this contraption _here _is called a toaster," Hook said knowledgeably, flourishing his hook at the appliance. Emma smirked at the healthy distance he was sure to maintain between his steel hook and the machine; one near-electrocution had been enough to instill a definite wariness. "You use it on bread."

Robin squinted at it skeptically. "How does it work?"

Hook opened his mouth, paused, and then said, "_Electricity_," with such supreme conviction you'd think he invented the concept (no matter that he _still_ seemed half-convinced it was just another word for magic in this land). He then proceeded to open the breadbox and begin demonstrating how one went about operating a toaster, all the while keeping his left arm a good distance away.

Regina wandered into the kitchen several minutes later, by which time Robin had grown quite fond of the toaster. He greeted her by enthusiastically offering to toast her a rounded bread if she was hungry.

"Actually, it's a bagel," the queen corrected, but despite the caustic edge to it, her voice was fond, and she accepted the offer. Emma shoved out a second chair with her foot, and after a moment Regina sank into it, still watching the men.

"What's this?" she asked with quiet amusement, as Hook supervised Robin's careful fiddling with the blackness setting knob.

"Hook is teaching Robin about technology," Emma smirked, as both men leaned their heads to the side in unison so they could watch the coils on the inside of the toaster heating up, Robin humming interestedly. "Stick around, next up's the microwave."


	5. Expert Advice

**Relationships: **Emma+Aurora, Philora, Captain Swan

**Prompt:** I would love a drabble with Aurora asking Emma for sexual advice for her and Philip and being like 'i know you and hook are probably a good ask for this' and emma being like 'WHAT DO YOU MEAN I DON'T DO HOOK' and then telling her.

* * *

"I mean," the princess said, blushing violently, "it's not like I don't know _anything_, I mean we do have a child together, I know what I'm doing in - in the bedchambers."

"Right," Emma agreed awkwardly, trying not to think of any lame jokes about Sleeping Beauty knowing her way around bedchambers. "Of course you do."

"It's just - and it's not that I don't love him, I _do_, I just. I think I've been wanting…" Aurora blushed harder, lowering her voice furtively, "more."

"Okay," Emma shrugged. When Aurora had pulled her into the gardens for a 'private conversation' earlier, she had not been expecting this. "Um. What kind of more?"

"I don't know!" the princess hissed. "I thought _you'd_ know, I mean you and Hook obviously get up to - to - I don't know, all sorts of things!"

Emma blinked, not sure if she should be offended. "What do you mean, obviousl - wait, did you say me and _HOOK?_"

Aurora raised her eyebrows, as if to say 'your point being?'

"I'm not - seriously, Hook?" Emma said, gaping. "What the hell - why would you even _think_ that?"

Aurora just looked at her.

"I'm not having_ kinky sex_ with _Hook!_" she snapped back, perhaps a little too loudly. Instantly, she lowered her voice, glancing furtively around before leaning forward to whisper insistently, "I'm _not!_"

The princess actually _tutted_. "Fine, Emma," she sighed, in the tone of one who believes none of it. "But… please, I don't know who else to talk to about this. _Please_."

Emma groaned, dropping her face into her hands. She had never ever wanted to be in the position of giving a Disney princess sex tips. Never.

"…Fine," she said, finally, trying not to notice the way Aurora perked up immediately. "I guess a good place to start would be light bondage…"

-xxx-

"…and I mean, _I've_ got to make allowances for the whole 'only one hand' thing so handcuffs aren't necessarily the best choice, in fact maybe scarves are better anyway, they're softer - but you won't have to do anything complicated, and trust me seeing but being unable to touch is gonna drive him _mad_," Emma finished with an encouraging smile, several minutes later. Okay, so being Aurora's sex guru hadn't been so bad, at least not so far. She'd listened attentively, and though her blush had Emma fearing for the blood vessels in her cheeks at times, the princess had seemed nervously excited about Emma's various suggestions for ways to spice up her nights with Philip.

In fact, she was currently sporting a somewhat wicked smirk. Huh, she must like the idea of scarves even more than blindfolds (her other favorite suggestion).

"What?" Emma asked, after several moments passed with the princess just grinning at her.

"Nothing," Aurora giggled, biting her lips. "Thank you. I think we'll manage all right. Since Philip has both hands."

"I - um. What?" Emma asked, eyes going wide and blush beginning to warm her cheeks - but Aurora was already standing up and darting around the hedge.

"I'll tell you how it goes," she laughed lightly, and was gone before Emma could protest that that _really_ wasn't necessary, or explain that the whole 'one hand thing' was just a slip of the tongue, it wasn't like she and Hook were _actually _having kinky sex, okay, it was all just a misunder-

"I hope you weren't intending to give them _our_ handcuffs," a familiar voice purred from behind her, and Emma jumped and spun around to see Hook stepping out from behind another hedge with a huge smirk. "You know I'm rather fond of them."

Emma groaned, dropping her face into her hands. "How much did you hear?"

Warm arms wrapped around her waist, and Hook rubbed his stubble teasingly against her neck (he _knew_ she liked that, just as much as he _knew_ she hated the marks it left. the asshole) as he pressed small kisses to her skin.

"Apparently we've been getting up to _all sorts_ of things," he whispered huskily into her ear. "Have you taught the innocent princess about sex in public yet?"

* * *

**Just so you all know:** Philip does approve of both bondage and blindfolding. Aurora reports this back to Emma who continues to be her reluctant tutor in the world of kink. Eventually she ends up suggesting Aurora try a threesome, just a suggestion, but Aurora REALLY LIKES the idea. As does Philip. As does Mulan. And though it was maybe meant as a once-off, the Warrior Royals threesome rapidly becomes a permanent arrangement. (Meanwhile Hook and Mulan are bros, and Emma and Aurora eventually end up becoming really good friends with Emma confiding in Aurora too.)


	6. Aplomb

**Relationships: **Davey Jones, with much mention of Captain Swan.

**Prompt: **Aplomb.

Partially based of spoiler pictures, so fair warning.

* * *

**aplomb: **_noun  
_-self-confidence or assurance, especially when in a demanding situation.

.

"Hook," David said, and to his credit, his voice was truly sympathetic, without a trace of pity. "I understand that you want to get Emma back, believe me I do, but - she's _happy_ now. Finally. We can't take that away from her."

Hook scoffed, finished loosely rolling up a blanket, and tossed it up onto the back of his horse, just behind the saddle. Holding it in place with his left arm, he quickly began to knot it down, speaking over his shoulder as he did so: "You can tell Neal that all you like, mate - but you don't really believe it yourself, do you?"

David looked taken aback briefly at the mention of Neal - apparently unaware that Hook had already witnessed that more successful version of this conversation - but rallied quickly. When Hook turned to retrieve the last few foodstuffs he'd set aside on a nearby rock, the Prince stood firmly in his way, arms crossed.

"She _is_ happy," he insisted. "She has Henry, she has the life she's always _wanted_, Hook -"

"Always wanted - she _didn't _want it," Hook burst out, fist clenching at his side. Behind him, the horse shifted, stepping forward to get at some fresher grass, and he breathed out slowly for several seconds before continuing. "She didn't want to leave, and whatever she might think while she's under a bloody _curse_, Swan would want to remember. She'd want to be _here_, with - her family."

His voice went hoarse on the last word, and he turned away sharply, hand coming up to scratch at the back of his neck.

David watched him for a long moment. The valley was quiet, the dwarves' conversation from a little ways off the only sound penetrating the morning mist. Slowly, Hook's shoulders relaxed, and he turned back to resume packing, as if the interlude had never happened.

Once again, Prince Charming was blocking his way.

"Look, even if she… We're in the _Enchanted Forest_. Regina can't cast the curse again, and there aren't any magic beans left - no," he stepped forcefully in front of Hook as the pirate attempted to skirt around him, and grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to listen. "There's _no way_ back to her."

Hook wrenched himself free, a sneer curling his lip. "And what do you want me to do, _mate?_" he asked sarcastically. "Find a crew and plunder all the merchant vessels that no longer exist? Stay here in the service of your _charming_ little kingdom, whiling out the rest of my days as a bloody blacksmith?" He shook his head, the anger dropping off his face, to be replaced by a deep, aching melancholy.

"The Crocodile is dead," he said. "Even if I still wanted it, I could no longer pursue my revenge. The only other - I have _nothing else left_, and I refuse to - you won't convince me to waste the rest of my life on _giving up_."

Forgoing the remaining supplies entirely, he turned and mounted his steed. Settling into the saddle and taking up the reins, he paused and glanced down in surprise - David stood just behind his knee, settling several parcels of food down into the saddlebag. Once finished - the load was meager, but that was only to be expected, as there were hardly any supplies to begin with when all the farms had been abandoned for nearly twenty-nine years - the prince stepped back, towards the horse's head.

He hesitated. Then, "where will you go?"

Hook shrugged. "Wherever I must."

"That's not good enough!" Hook jumped slightly at the sharp crack of David's voice, and Snow looked up from where she was occupied at the pavilion on the other side of the field. She stood, and began to approach them swiftly.

"This isn't some lighthearted trip, mate," David snarled, lowering his voice as he grabbed at the bridle to hold the horse still. "If I let you go - if I'm supposed to let you try to find my daughter… You need to have a _plan_."

Unexpectedly, Hook grinned. Leaning forward against his horse's neck, he said, "I'll check the beanstalk first. Make certain there is no final bean. If that fails, I have other options."

When David made as if to object, Hook actually laughed. It wasn't exactly an amused sound, but it was neither anywhere near as bitter as it could have been, more - grimly determined.

"I survived hundreds of years beyond my time, traveled three realms, and managed to find a way to kill the Dark One himself - for all that it didn't last -when I hunted my revenge. My current purpose has me _much_ more motivated." Still grinning wide, almost baring his teeth, Hook shook his head. "I _will_ find her."

Slowly, David's hand dropped off the bridle. He stepped back shortly, just as his wife arrived, asking what was going on. It only took a moment for her to put two and two together and start telling Hook to get down off the horse, he was needed here and -

"It's all right, Snow," David murmured, and reached out to take her hand. He didn't look away from the pirate's face as he spoke, and there was something oddly like _trust_ in his eyes. "He's going to find Emma, and bring her home."

Hook nodded gravely at the prince.

"Always," he promised, flicking the reins to begin his journey.


End file.
